Big Horn Sheep Are in Hemenway Park!

Yes the Big Horn Sheep are in Hemenway Park in Boulder City. It is time to get up close and personal with some wildlife! Errr- okay, don't get toooooooo close, they are wild after all.

Hemenway Park is a favorite hideout for the Big Horn Sheep, and is just off Highway 93 just about a hundred meters north of the road on Ville Drive. That is just as you are coming down the hill to leave Boulder City and head into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on the way to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas.

When the temps hit over 100 (and we are there) the big horn come down out of the hills above. Normally the animals evade flat land like the plague. Up on the rocky mountainsides they are safe since no one can keep up with them. Down in the flat lands they become vulnerable to predators like mountain lions and wolves.

Yet over time these local Big Horn have found that this park is safe. Better yet there is easy grass and plants, but most importantly, SHADE!

When doing tours with groups to the Grand Canyon or Hoover Dam I love to pull over in the afternoon and check out the Big Horn. They are a great photo opportunity.

But PLEASE! Do not approach the herd or try to pet or feed them. The herd has lost a number of members due to a harsh respiratory illness that has decimated their numbers. Of course, they are also wild, not some semi-domesticated petting zoo animal, and if they think you are a threat they will defend themselves.

The Big Horn Sheep basically have all right of way in this region. Last month I was driving along the entrance road to Hoover dam when a Big Horn ewe hopped down onto the road directly in front of me from the rocks above. One word - SEAT BELTS! Okay that's two words but it was a bood thing that everybody in my group had their belts on. The ewe looked at me for a long moment as if wondering why I was interfering with her hop-around. Then she turned and leaped off the road down the escarpment to our right.

Like with all wild life, observe, do not touch.

Mermaids, Glitter Gulch and La Bayou closed on Fremont Street Experience

The Fremont Street Experience has taken a sad hit with the closing of Mermaids, La Bayou and the Girls of Glitter Gulch. They've been bought out by Derek and Greg Stevens - owners of the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate casinos in the Fremont Street area. The story is they plan to develop all of these into one large casino. So the west end of Fremont Street looks to be choked with construction for the foreseeable future.

And yes, I know it is Las Vegas, and Sin City is all about continuously reinventing yourself, but geesh - I loved those places.

Girls of Glitter Gulch

No, I haven't been inside. The GGG is/was downtown's only strip club. And while I had been tempted to take a few hours to check out the goings on and naked ladies inside Glitter Gulch - strictly for tour guide research purposes of course! -I never did. But I am worried about Las Vegas Vicky - the neon cowgirl lighting up the night in front of Glitter Gulch. I sooooo hope that she doesn't get relegated to some back corner of the Neon Museum.

Vicky has a ton of history, and I plan to write a post on her in the coming days.

La Bayou 

La Bayou was the very first licensed casino in Nevada - opening as the Northern Club in 1931. It has had a lot of names over the years, including the Monte Carlo Club and Coin Castle. Even sadder, La Bayou was the last holdout of using all coin operated machines. That's right, in today's modern casino environment where you have to worry about cashing in slips of paper, you still heard that satisfying clink-clink-clink-clink of coins paying you off. 

As far as I know, only the El Cortez still has any coin operated machines left. Anyone know of any others?

Mermaids

And of course Mermaids - and I have spent a lot of time at this old place. Like most people, I was not interested in the slots but in the fried foods in back. The litany of arterial clogging comestibles was heart warming, including deep fried twinkies, deep fried oreos, deep fried PBJs, as well as cheap hot dogs and drinks.

Confession: On my downtown tours I often release my clients for them to spend 30-60 minutes exploring on their own. Me? I'd head to Mermaids for a drink or a severely unhealthy snack. 

What is coming?

Answer: I don't know, although I have liked what the Stevens boys have done at the D and Golden Gate. Still, I have a feeling I am going to miss these old classic Fremont Street Institutions.